The reason some hate and others love Jesus (and his messengers) is the same: 1. He is hated for his authority, 2. He is loved for his authority — Matthew 10:5,21–33

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 

“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:5,21–33

The reason some hate and others love Jesus (and his messengers) is the same:
1. He is hated for his authority
2. He is loved for his authority

Jesus does not mince words in these verses. The disciples were not calling him a people pleaser after this. Why, when Jesus is trying to get his disciples ready to go out and share the good news that he has come, does he speak this way? There is a quote that was said by a French author that goes, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” The point is that if you want to get people to work together to do something, give them a vision to reach for. Paint them a picture of an amazing future–sailing and exploring the sea—instead of than micromanaging their small tasks of searching for wood and then nailing it together. This quote is often used in the business world for how managers can encourage their managees to not get caught up in the mundane day-to-day, but to see the bigger picture.

Jesus doesn’t seem to use this management tactic when he gave these instructions. We’re in the second week of focusing on Matthew 10, which contains Jesus’ instructions to his disciples as he’s about to send them around Israel sharing the good news that Jesus has come. And part of the shock of Jesus’ words here is that last Sunday his message was so wonderful. Last week, he began his instructions by saying that he was sending them out to do the same things that he had been doing, which was preaching the good news of forgiveness and healing all kinds of sins. Just being an amazing source of goodness in the world. Wherever Jesus went, paralytics walked for the first time, blind people saw for the first time, sinful people slept at night for the first time because they knew they were at peace with God, lepers experienced care for the first time.

So why all of a sudden does Jesus take this awful tone? Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me. This is not a wonderful painting of the high seas, this is not a vision of healing or peace. This is a horrible reality that we would want to avoid, of civil war, of families torn in two, I mean children having their own parents put to death? Why would anyone want to go into the world and bring this about? Well we don’t, Jesus isn’t telling the disciples to go out and make this happen, but he does warn them that it will. And so the question for us this morning is that when we pray that God would send workers and then when we go as those workers to try and bring Jesus’ message and healing and peace to others, when we do that, will this happen to us too?

As we explore that question, we will see that because Jesus is a straight shooter, because he speaks the truth to us and to all people, and because of the way that humans are, divisions naturally occur. And we will see that the reason that some people hate Jesus and us his followers, and others love Jesus and us his followers, is the same. The reason is Jesus has authority.

1. He is hated for his authority

Jesus was hated for his claims to authority at this time. Even as he was going around to all the villages healing and preaching, most of the more religious people grew to hate him. In fact, they had started calling him Beelzebul, which was kind of a derogatory name for the devil. They were starting to plot to stop him from all the preaching and healing that he was doing. Why? Because if what Jesus was saying was true, that he was God come to earth as a human, his way was right. Which would mean the way they had been following would have been wrong. Jesus’ authority threatened their authority. So instead of submitting to his authority, they hated him.

And as we are messengers of Jesus today, we face the same problem. Just like Jesus sent out his disciples in Matthew 10, Jesus sends us to go out and share the good news of what he has done with the people in our lives. And just like Jesus said to the disciples to start with their fellow Israelites before Gentiles and Samaritans, it is also good for us to focus our efforts on the people closest to us, our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, the people we interact with most often. When we think about sharing our faith in Jesus with someone, the thing that may make us most nervous is if that someone has a tough question in response. A tough question, either a cultural tough question, about some culture war item like immigration or LGBTQ+ or abortion; or a theological tough question, like will Jesus really not acknowledge someone before God if they don’t confess that he is Lord? And these are important questions to have thought about, certainly. But the question is never the root of the problem. The fact that people may disagree on cultural or theological issues isn’t what leads to the division that Jesus warns us about. The root of the problem is that we humans, you and me included, naturally do not want to give up our authority to anyone else, even Jesus. We want to be able to be the ones who decide what we believe. We want to be the ones who get to say what’s right and wrong on hot cultural topics. want to be the ones who get to say what certain passages in the Bible mean and what they don’t mean. We want to have authority. And when I say “we” I’m including us. Not just the people whom we want to go and share Jesus with, but we too have that pull in our hearts that hears Jesus claim to be God and respond with yes but I know better on this. The apostle Paul put it this way: the sinful heart is hostile to God. It cannot submit to God’s law. When we hear Jesus say go, our hearts say stay. And as a result, what happens is what we heard in our reading from 2 Timothy, the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

If what we are called to say about Jesus is true, that he is God come to earth as a human, his way is right. Jesus’ authority outranks our authority. Jesus could have played the people-pleaser here with the disciples and us, and painted a rosy picture of how we can go around sharing his message and everyone will love us instantly and be so grateful they include us in their will. But he’s a straight shooter. He tells the truth. And the truth is that some, in fact many people’s initial response, will hate Jesus because he demands authority. Unfortunately, instead of submitting to his authority, some choose to hate Jesus. And as a result, we get these horrible divisions between people who hate Jesus and those who accept his authority.

But that doesn’t mean you go around sharing Jesus in the most abrasive way possible, telling everyone how wrong they are. This is a big implication, where Jesus says: you will be hated by everyone because of me. When you pray and go to share your faith, make sure that you are not hated by everyone because of you. If someone’s going to take offense at you, make sure it’s the message of Jesus is Lord that offends and not the way you deliver that message. And it’s actually quite easy to deliver the message in a winsome way. Because some will hate Jesus because of the message, that’s true. But that’s not because of the message, it’s because of the sinful heart. The message that Jesus gives us is actually incredibly wonderful. It’s called the good news. It’s the best thing that any human could ever hear.

2. He is loved for his authority

And that’s why so many will love Jesus and us for bringing them this message that Jesus has authority. And he uses that authority for our good. That’s what the Good News is, that Jesus uses all of his authority as God for the good every human being. Jesus gives this statement on absolute authority: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Which comes off as a warning, and it is, but why does he say this? For our encouragement, to make us brave, because God, yes, has the authority to destroy both body and soul. But what does he use that authority to do? Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs on your head are numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. God has complete authority over everything, so much so that he knows you better than you know yourself. Do you know the number of hairs on your head? God does.

Do you know how many people you will invite to church and will look at you funny at first but years down the line ask you to hear more about? God does. Do you know how many people you will invite to church and they’ll blow up in your face and never talk to you again? God does. Do you know how many friends you will sit with as they’re going through a hard time, and share with them the truth that God can give them peace? God does. Do you know how many times in the rest of your life you will lay awake at night, struggling with the fact that your family member seems to hate Jesus? God does. Do you know how many tears you will shed, wrestling with this faith that you have that is so black and white sometimes, either you love Jesus’ authority or you hate it, and you think about how many people seem to be on the side of destruction? God does. Do you know how many tears you will shed wrestling with your own beliefs, do you love Jesus’ authority or is the grass greener on the other side? God knows you better than you know yourself.

And because God knows you, he does what is best for you. At one point towards the end of his time on earth, Jesus stood on a hill overlooking Jerusalem and said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Jesus has complete authority over all as God and yet so many have rejected him. So what did he do? He went to down to Jerusalem to do what was best for them. He went down to Jerusalem to save the people who hated him. Because he loved them. Because he loved us. All of your sins, where you have seen yourself as a higher authority than Jesus, Jesus used his authority, used his God-ness, to die in your place and have his sacrifice credited to you. Jesus’ authority is so wonderful, and although we may struggle with it at times, we cannot turn anywhere else but him because of this mind-bending truth that Jesus uses his authority and all his might and all his knowledge of who you are and what you need for your good. We see it in this line that Jesus says, kind of an odd line, maybe he even said with a wry smile on his face: don’t fear the rejection or the awkwardness or the retribution of those who decide to hate me. Don’t fear because God knows so much that he knows when even a tiny sparrow twists its wing and falls to the ground. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Jesus says, I know that the message about my authority will cause division and pain and tears and hatred and sometimes just plain old awkwardness. But I’m not sending you out into these challenging situations because you’re a pawn in my plans, you’re the intern I can boss around, no. You are worth so much to me. How much? Jesus would rather give his life up so that you could live than keep his life. Our hearts are hostile to God this is true. And we sometimes seek out teachers contrary to Jesus that appease what we like to hear this is true. But while we still sinners, Christ died for us. We love Jesus because he has authority, and he uses that authority to love us.

So on second thought, the picture that Jesus paints for us here in these verses actually is pretty inspiring. It does make us yearn for something, not so much a salty ocean breeze, but opportunities. Opportunities to share what Jesus means to us. What Jesus has done for us. What blessings being under Jesus’ authority brings to our lives. And yes, in certain situations that message will lead to divisions, but when someone we love rejects Jesus we know that Jesus does not reject them and he is working to bring them under his loving authority.

His authority that turns out to be an amazing picture of the future after all. When you’re in a time when you’re frustrated with the endless task of gathering wood or the menial task of nailing planks, when you’re discouraged by yet another person you invite to church who turns you down or the person who always lets that one verse get in the way of them following Jesus, look to the greater vision Jesus gives you, the final painting of what you can look forward to. Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. Jesus speaking your name to your Creator and you living in his loving authority forever.